Well, I'm back from my first time around the Pinehurst loop! Yay! Made it in one piece, without being hit by a car or falling over from going too slow!

We did 15.4 miles from Skyline and Snake - along Skyline to Joaquin Miller to Redwood to Pinehurst and up Pinehurst back to the starting point. I've been terrified of this route for a while, but I have to say it wasn't so bad. I kept my speed down on the descents, trying to be prudent! I made it all the way up all the hills without having to stop at all (yay!). The last little bit to the top of Pinehurst is pretty darn steep!

I made a tactical error on the last stretch - I was coming round a corner and I thought I'd better stop and rest because it must be a ways more before the really steep part, so I geared up getting ready to stop, came around the corner and saw that I was almost there - and there was no way I was going to stop now, so I just had to keep going, but in that higher gear ! Wow - I was going the slowest I have ever gone - 3.5 mph, but I made it!

So the only piece of the BAO ride I haven't done yet is the Lake to Tunnel Rd, which we do on Sunday. Then I'm just going to keep practicing putting all the pieces together between now and the ride.

Whew - it actually seems possible now!